Accent Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO)

Accent Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Moody’s Co. (NYSE:MCO) by 11.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,929 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 490 shares during the period. Moody’s makes up about 1.1% of Accent Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Accent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Moody’s were worth $1,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCO. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Moody’s by 14.8% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 1,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $467,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Moody’s in the first quarter worth about $208,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Moody’s by 165.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 218 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Moody’s by 14.8% during the first quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Moody’s by 12.8% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 19,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $7,752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,237 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Moody’s

In other news, SVP Caroline Sullivan sold 1,681 shares of Moody’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $462.40, for a total transaction of $777,294.40. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $654,296. The trade was a 54.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MCO. UBS Group raised their price objective on Moody’s from $495.00 to $510.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Moody’s from $451.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Moody’s from $454.00 to $459.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody’s from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Moody’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $500.00.

Moody’s Price Performance

NYSE MCO opened at $473.31 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $473.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $448.02. Moody’s Co. has a 52 week low of $352.17 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.22, a PEG ratio of 3.08 and a beta of 1.29.

Moody’s (NYSE:MCO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The business services provider reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.32. The business had revenue of $1.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Moody’s had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 57.97%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.43 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody’s Co. will post 12.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Moody’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. Moody’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.05%.

About Moody’s

Moody’s Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody’s Analytics and Moody’s Investors Services. The Moody’s Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.